Kevin Pederson recently finished his seventh season as Lander's head coach after leading the Lady Bearcats to the program's first ever berth in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. Pederson's squad advanced to the Elite 8 after defeating top seed USC Aiken on their home floor to secure the Lady Bearcats third consecutive Sweet 16 Appearance. For the second consecutive season, and third time in Pederson's career, his team finished in the top 10 of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll with a final ranking of #8.

This also marked the first time in the program's history that the team has achieved five straight 20-win seasons and five straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

In 2010-11 Pederson lead the Lady Bearcats to a school-record 29 wins, four weeks atop the USA Today/ESPN Division II Coaches Top 25, a second straight Sweet 16 appearance and a final No. 6 ranking.

In ten-plus seasons, Pederson has amassed a 231-105 career coaching record for a .678 winning percentage. He was 88-31 in three-and-a-half seasons at Anderson College before accepting the Lander position in May 2005. At Lander he has posted a 143-74 overall record.

In the past three seasons, the Lady Bearcats have posted a 80-16 overall record and 48-6 mark in the Peach Belt Conference.

In 2009-10, Pederson, who led the Lady Bearcats to a 27-4 record and the Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship, was voted the Peach Belt and WBCA Region 3 Coach of the Year and the 2010 Bulletin's National Coach of the Month for February.

The Lady Bearcats finished 5-22 in Pederson's first year at Lander, his only losing season as a head coach. Lander followed with records of 15-13, 23-12, 20-11 and 27-4 before last season's second consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance.

In 2008-09, Pederson led the Lady Bearcats to their second straight Peach Belt Conference tournament championship from the fifth seed position. Four years ago, Lander was the Peach Belt regular season co-champion and the PBC tournament winner. The Lady Bearcats earned an automatic berth in the NCAA National Tournament and won an NCAA game for the first time in program history.

Pederson has won five conference championships in ten years and has now taken two programs into the NCAA Tournament. He led Anderson to its first-ever winning season and first two NCAA berths, reaching the second round and the Sweet 16. His teams have improved each year at both Anderson and Lander, with 15, 17, 25 and 33 wins at Anderson.

Pederson has recruited a WBCA National Player of the Year in Shannon McKever (2010-11) and coached four conference players of the year, three freshmen of the year, and two career 2,000-point scorers in LaShonda Chiles and Diedra Langston (Anderson). Chiles played for Pederson at both Anderson and Lander, and became the NCAA Division II all-time women's leading scorer last season when she finished with 2,885 career points.

Pederson led Anderson to a 33-3 record and a berth in the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 in the 2004-2005 season and was voted the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) Coach of the Year in 2005. The Lady Trojans, who were ranked No. 1 in the East Region at the end of the 2005 regular season, fell to Charleston (W.Va.) University in the regional final.

Anderson finished the season as the No. 9-ranked team in the country.

Pederson, who earned his bachelor's degree from Clemson University and has master's from the United States Sports Academy, then took on the challenge of coaching in the ultra-competitive Peach Belt Conference.

Pederson, a native of Fairfax, Va., worked five seasons for the Clemson men's basketball program under Rick Barnes and Larry Shyatt before joining Anderson College in 2001 as a volunteer assistant men's basketball coach.

In December 2001 he was named the interim women's head coach and led the Lady Trojans to a 13-9 overall record. After being named the head coach, he followed with records of 17-12 in 2002-03; 25-7 in 2003-04 and 33-3 in 2004-05.

Under Pederson's guidance, Anderson won two CVAC tournaments and one CVAC regular-season championship. Anderson led the nation in scoring in 2003-04 with 85 points per game and scored 100 or more points four times.

Pederson brought his high-scoring offense to Lander, which averaged 87.2 points per game in 2007-08 and totaled over 100 points seven times. Lander twice broke school and Peach Belt Conference records for points in a game in 2007-08, first with 116 versus Southern Wesleyan, Nov. 24, and again with 121 at Allen University, Jan. 9. Lander topped that with 124 points against Allen last year.

Pederson is married to the former Adair Clary of Gaffney, S.C., who graduated from Clemson with undergraduate and master's degrees. They have two children, Conner and Clary.